Conventional clipboards commonly consist of a hardback board with a clip mounted thereon for holding sheet and other types of materials for use by the holder of the board. The clip may be spring loaded, and several workpieces, such as several sheets of paper, may be attached to the board by clamping them with the springable clip.
When the paper is held in place by the clip on the clipboard, the paper may be worked upon using the hardback board as a writing or support surface. Furthermore, when traveling, the board serves as an easy storage place for many papers and memoranda.
The most common type of board in use today is a single hardback board having dimensions slightly larger than a workpiece sheet of paper. A metallic clip is riveted to the front surface of the board slightly below one edge (hereinafter called the "top edge").
The metallic clip has two pieces which are springably combined. The first piece is a base which is riveted or otherwise fixedly attached to the surface of the board. A second piece is a movable clip which may pivot in order to clamp the workpieces to the board. A spring for placing tension is wound around a pivot or rod mechanism in such a way as to force the clamp mechanism to place force on the workpiece papers.
In many instances, it becomes necessary to use the clipboard for workpieces such as paper which are larger than the board itself or where the user needs to write or draw in both the longitudinal and crosswise directions. At times, the placement of the clip will directly inhibit interaction of the user with a particular part of the workpiece. It then becomes necessary to release the clip and remove the workpiece for a reorientation on the board.
When the paper is removed from the clamping of the clip or reoriented in a different direction of the board, the clamp does not offer the same clamping mechanism or pivoting mechanism which is offered when the clamp is centrally located at the top edge of the board.
Furthermore, because of the permanent attachment of the clamp to the clipboard, many clipboards become unusable if either the board or the clip should individually break. For instance, oftentimes with cardboard-type clipboards, the board will become bent, ripped, or broken, and the board itself will be unusable. Thus, the entire clipboard and clamp combination must be discarded.
In another common instance, the clipboard spring becomes broken and the clip will no longer provide clamping force to the workpiece paper. Once again, the entire clipboard must be totally discarded.
Furthermore, common clipboards inadequately provide for clamping of different shaped pieces such as workpieces or writing utensils, i.e.: pens and pencils. Oftentimes the user will initially clamp his or her workpiece to the board and then interact with the workpiece clamped to the board, using a writing utensil.
When the user wishes to temporarily cease from interacting with the workpiece, the clamp will be lifted and the writing utensil will additionally be clipped to the clipboard above the workpiece. When this happens, the clamp no longer provides a dispersed clamping force across an edge of the workpiece, but provides a single discrete clamping force where the writing utensil is held in place. Many times when traveling, this allows the workpiece to be jarred from place and lost or ruined.